With a $1,000 check, Tyrone retiree Dan Meckes has jump-started the drive to rescue the Tyrone YMCA from its financial difficulties.
As he handed the check to YMCA Board of Directors, President, John Harlow, Sunday afternoon, Meckes stated, “I want to provide this seed money in the hope it will attract the attention and contributions of the entire community. I would prefer this gift had remained anonymous, but by doing so in public other retirees and ordinary Tyroners can see that if I can help in this way, so can they. I’m not making this contribution for any reason other than my wish to make the saving of this institution a crusade involving our whole community. I hope this small contribution, compared to what some in the town could give, will ignite an awareness so that others will pick up the banner and follow my meager example.”
“I know Tyrone is not a town of wealth,” Meckes said. “Many people may think, ‘I can’t possibly give a meaningful contribution to the YMCA.’ To them I’d like to ask, ‘ Can you give $14?’
“Rescuing the Y would only take $14,” Meckes said. “That’s right, a mere $14 from each of us can save the YMCA, figuring Tyrone’s population is 5,000. If everyone, from kids to adults to seniors would give just $14, the YMCA’s debt would be paid off.”
“I am not a rich man’, but I am rich in memories of what the Tyrone YMCA did for me and this town and its time I give back,” Meckes told Harlow.
“As everyone in Tyrone knows I have lately been at odds with the mayor,” Meckes said, referring to his many letters to the editor which often criticize Tyrone Mayor Pat Stoner’s and Borough Council’s actions. “I hearby challenge her honor to gather all the downtown landlords and ask them — no tell them — to give healthy contributions to the Y for what she has done for them at absolutely no cost to them. It’s payback time for all that has been given them. It’s time Mayor Stoner calls in her markers. Its time those recipients give something back to Tyrone and the YMCA has been a part of this town for over a hundred years. I say if the mayor and her council supporters can pay the departed (Westvaco) $15,000 to fix a problem not the borough’s fault — $15,000 of our, the borough taxpayers money — her honor can pay us back by leaning on downtown beneficiaries of her largess for significant contributions to this crusade to save the Y. It should not have to beg for support, Mayor and Council Supporters. You and we owe it.”
Meckes also noted the role the Tyrone YMCA has played in the lives of generations of Tyrone residents. “This noble institution, this intricate part of our lives, this YMCA has served our great grandparents, grandparents, parents, us and our children since 1870. When I was young, the YMCA was there for the youth. We had the swimming pool at Athletic Park in the Summer, and in Fall, Winter and Spring, we had the bowling alley and the gym for basketball and dances.
“For years the only public library in town, was the library on the second floor of the Y,” Meckes added. “During the late 30s to the present day, the Y has furnished the stage to bring live theatre to town. And thanks largely to The Tyrone-Community-Players-sparked restoration program, the YMCA auditorium has become a jewel box theater, recognized throughout the state.”
Meckes also pointed out that the YMCA is still active in providing physical exercise for the children and youth of Tyrone.
“I’m sure John Franco, Tyrone’s illustrious football coach would hate to see the fall of the YMCA,” he said. “The Y helps keep our high school football players in shape in the off season and provides the facilities to develop a reserve pool of athletes with its programs for kindergarten, preschoolers and pre-teens. We fill our football stadium every week for the season. That, in itself, is recognition of the Y’s contribution to our winning teams.
“I’m just as sure that all those who use its weight room and training equipment would be at a loss if the Y should have to shut its doors. It is a major factor in maintaining their health,” Meckes continued.
“And with its dance studio, live theatre, preschool programs it is also an incubator for future dancers, actors and successful students who will one day carry the name of Tyrone far abroad.”
Meckes said his check is a challenge to organizations, clubs, individuals and even churches, adding that St. Mathews recently received a four million dollar gift from a former resident of Tyrone, to “join in a crusade to save an institution so sorely needed in this culturally, financially and employment depressed community.”
Meckes said that radio campaigns, money jars in businesses and clubs, private donations, bake sales and concerts are examples of things that can be done to raise money for the YMCA. “The Tyrone Community Players could give plays for the benefit of their host of nearly twenty years,” he said. “Telemarketing teams could be formed to call every number in the Tyrone phone book, etc.
“We have two chances, this week, to take immediate action,” Meckes said. “Tonight, at 7 p.m. Borough Council meets in the Borough Building and among the things to be considered — if last week’s Council ruminations are any guide — is a discussion of aid for the YMCA. Be there to voice your concern.
“Tuesday, there will be a public meeting at 7 p.m. in the YMCA To discuss and plan ways to financially stabilize and keep our beloved YMCA in town. Be there to show your support and help plan a quick solution to the Y’s urgent problem. “
